Shanna Salinas

Shanna Salinas is an Associate Professor in the English Department at Kalamazoo College, specializing in U.S. race and ethnicity studies with a primary focus on Chicana/o/x literature. She also serves as Co-Director of Critical Ethnic Studies and the Mellon Foundation-funded Humanities for All Times grant initiative, Humanities Integrated Locational Learning (HILL). Her research bridges literary analysis with social justice, examining how race, gender, and cultural identity intersect in narrative forms.

Salinas holds a PhD, MA, and BA from the University of California system (Santa Barbara and Los Angeles). Her academic journey was shaped by Sandra Cisneros’ The House in Mango Street, which inspired her career path as a Chicana/o literary scholar. She teaches courses on U.S. ethnic literature, modernism/postmodernism, and critical ethnic studies, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to social justice.

Her publications span analyses of Chicana/o/x authors like Sandra Cisneros and Ana Castillo, as well as explorations of race in works by Kate Chopin and Patricia Smith. Current research projects include studies of Salvador Plascencia, John Rechy, and Karen Tei Yamashita, focusing on themes like historical trauma, spatial narratives, and postcolonial identity.

Salinas actively promotes community-engaged humanities through the HILL initiative, fostering collaborations between academia and local communities. Her pedagogical philosophy emphasizes embracing literature as a tool for self-discovery and social critique, rejecting narrow definitions of 'practical' academic paths in favor of intellectual passion.